Is Verstappen getting a champion as a new teammate?
Rumours have begun to swirl surrounding Red Bull Racing's second seat. This time, the rumours involve IndyCar driver Alex Palou. Palou is a four-time IndyCar champion. Could Max Verstappen have competition next year?
Yuki Tsunoda is Verstappen's current teammate. However, his contract is up at the end of the 2025 season. While Isack Hadjar has been asked about the seat a few times, he has insisted he is not yet ready to move up. Enter 2025 IndyCar Champion Palou.
Buxton responds to Palou rumours
Will Buxton, Formula 1 and IndyCar commentator had his own opinion to say regarding the rumours. Verstappen has has two teammates this year, with six teammate in the previous years; Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Sergio Perez, Liam Lawson, and Yuki Tsunoda. Verstappen has never had a teammate that holds a championship title like Palou does.
Nevertheless, Buxton has conflicting feelings around the potential move. On his X account earlier, he wrote: "Would love and hate this in equal measure."
He explained, "Would love it for him and because I think he’s one of the very best racers in open wheel right now and would surprise a lot of people, showing the world just how high the level is in IndyCar. Would hate it because that second Red Bull seat has a hex on it, one which even Palou might struggle to overcome. And also because not only do I want to see the IndyCar field take the fight to him in 2026 and challenge the champion, but I want to see just how many titles he could achieve in IndyCar, given how young he is and how much scope there still is for him to get even better."
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